Very frustrated new customer - issues with porting from another network

[brianm418]

Hello

I've spent approx 5-5.5hrs today online speaking to vodafone / on the phone to them / messing with settings on my brand new iPhone 12 Pro.

I moved from Giffgaff, number was due to be ported yesterday. My old Giffgaff sim stopped working and the vodafone sim came to life... Great!

Now 24hrs later, i'm unable to activate iMessage which I really need as its the main way I communicate whilst I'm working. I've spoken to 6 or 7 people today who advised the below

• No issue - I must be making it up
• Issue with old network but they're not sure
• Issue with phone or sim card

The latest guy advised sometimes it can take a few weeks for this to activate?!?! I tried my partners sim in the iphone and iMessage activated instantly. I believe there is something wrong from when my number ported. This contract will cost over £3000 during the term and the customer service so far is disgusting.

I've de-registered iMessage today from my old phone, and spent 2.5hrs speaking to apple on live chat and have been advised the issue is 100% not at their side. I can use iMessage with my apple ID email, just not the phone number as it says "activation error".

Sorry for the rant, can someone please help?

[BandOfBrothers]

I think you may have hit the nail on the head with regards to connecting this to the recent port @brianm418 

Hopefully this glitch will self resolve soon for you but if for some reason it does not then do engage with the Social Media Team's via Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries who will I'm sure try to help further.

Edit …

Think about ejecting the sim and reinsert it and or hook upto iTunes with your cord which may help.

[AnnS]

Hi @brianm418 

I wouldn't be surprised if this is due to iMessages being with the number you used on a temporary basis before the number port.  I don't know if you have been into the phone settings and updated the number with your ported number.

settings >  message > send receive > Apple ID and sign out > Turn iMessage off > Turn off phone for at least 10 minutes > reboot phone >  messages > iMessage turn on and sign in to Apple ID 

I have also found this previous thread, hope it helps. https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/iOS/unable-to-activate-iMessage-after-porting-number/td-p/2661839

[Anonymous]

Hi @brianm418 As @AnnS and @BandOfBrothers have advised, this may be due to your recent port, however I'd also suggest checking the number registered in the device settings. If this is showing the temporary number rather than the number you've ported over, you can overtype this with the correct number and restart the phone. Please could you give this a try and let us know how you get on?